Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) criticized former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday for leading GOP 'hysteria' in the wake of the attempting bombing of a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day. | AP photo composite by POLITICO

Kerry: Cheney criticism 'hysteria'

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) went after former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday for leading Republican “hysteria” in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

“Unfortunately, too many Republicans have treated this episode as a political opportunity,” Kerry said in a statement. “Led by former Vice President Dick Cheney, they have resorted to partisan denunciations that serve no legitimate purpose and have no place in the nation’s vital debate over how to fight terrorism.”

Story Continued Below

“The hysteria of Mr. Cheney and some of his fellow Republicans is sadly reminiscent of the days when the previous administration substituted fearmongering for sound policy and led us into an unnecessary and tragic war in Iraq while starving a necessary conflict in Afghanistan,” Kerry added.

In a statement to POLITICO soon after the attempted terrorist attack, Cheney accused President Barack Obama of “trying to pretend we are not at war.”

“Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war?” Cheney asked. “It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society,”

On Wednesday, Kerry defended Obama, saying the president has made all the right moves since the botched attack.

“President Obama was right to demand a full and immediate review of the intelligence failures that permitted the would-be bomber to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit,” Kerry said. “The president acted quickly and decisively while avoiding the sensationalism Americans too often witnessed over the last eight years.”

“He should be applauded for forthrightly pinpointing the failure of our intelligence agencies to connect the dots available to them and demanding reforms that will reduce the chances of this sort of mistake occurring again,” the senator concluded.